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Friday, January 11, 2013

Flashback Friday: Risa (Part 5)

Part V

Risa stared at the young girl standing in front of her: April. She had crossed the frozen river, following the blood trails that had been left behind, and now she had reached her. April stared intently at Risa. At that moment, a gush of cold air filled the room, although all the doors were closed; none of the windows were open. Steam escaped from her mouth as she breathed. The woman next to Risa had stopped knitting. Soon enough, the whole place was glistening in white. Risa noticed that April was the only one whose breath didn’t emit steam. Her eyes widened at the thought that maybe April had caused this. She wondered why the woman next to her hadn’t reacted to this. Risa’s heart bounded as she saw that the lady wasn’t moving an inch: she had been frozen, completely…her mouth hung open, eyes protruding out of her socket in shock.

Looking down at herself, wondering why the same thing hadn’t happened to her, Risa noticed that the thin layer of frost covering every surface, hadn’t reached her. It had stopped one inch before it touched her body. She put her hand on the frozen couch only to see the ice melt away.

Up ‘til then, Risa hadn’t noticed her body was naturally warm: as if an internal fire warmed her body, protecting her from the usual cold weather. That was, at least, what she thought. She watched April’s expression turn from neutral to frightened. She could feel herself getting warmer and warmer, as if she was bursting into flames.

“What?!” April exclaimed. She looked horrified for some reason. “Go away. Now!”

Risa was too shocked to answer. It was as if she realized something she knew all along. It didn’t make sense, but she decided to test her powers. The room grew suddenly warmer and the ice melted, creating a large pool of water in the room.

“you know what’s going on don’t you?” Risa asked April who seemed to know more than her. “You understand this right?”

April looked furious. “I know no more than you!” she yelled “Now get out!”

She swished her hand lightly, blowing a great gush of wind towards Risa. It knocked down the couch as well as the corpse. Plates and porcelain tea sets fell on the floor, crashing. Risa rolled over, just missing a shard of glass heading towards her neck.

“Just tell me, why did you kill that boy?” she grabbed April’s wrist, who backed away abruptly, projecting Risa across the other side of the room.

“Why would you want to know?”

“Because I think I know who you are…and you know who I am too. And that’s why we’re here now, because you killed him. Now just tell me-“

The room turned ice cold, worse than before this time. Pointy icicles formed on the ceiling.

“Ask me the question one more time. Go on…”

“Why-did-you-kill-him?” risa enunciated clearly.

April shrieked, her breath turning into cold air. Risa felt her temperature drop and knew that was a bad sign. The icicles shook above their head.

“April, if you just tell me, we won’t have to fight…”

She picked up a fork and tempted to throw it at Risa, who swiftly dodged it. Risa felt herself getting cold as she tried melting the ice. It wouldn’t work, her lungs felt frozen. When April ran out of forks, she threw knives, which Risa successfully dodged. She ran towards April, but felt a pain in her leg: a fork. She jerked it out and aimed it towards April’s head. It hit her chest and blood trickled softly from the wound. Risa grabbed a few strand of her long hair and threw her too the ground, but April was too quick. As she approached her, April kicked her right in the stomach, sending her toppling on the table, bringing everything down with her.

They heard a huge crack coming from above them, the icicles on the wall had started to fall. April dodged her way through the room and reached the stairs. Risa took a platter and aimed it at every icicle coming her way. She then ran up the stairs pursuing her. All the rooms were covered in ice, and so was everyone in it. She checked the third floor. Still, no one. The roof! There, April stood, her back facing her, and for a moment, Risa didn’t say anything. Why did April look like an ice queen, with her long black hair and crimson dress? While she was in a dirty apron and bare knees. But, April’s skin was pale, so pale that she looked dead, with eyes that showed no sign of humanity. Risa was alive, with her fiery red hair and dark caramel skin. Risa felt like she was falling. She felt the wind against her face. Blowing, harder, until she reached the ground.

People. There were so many, and they were all staring at her. Among them were Thatch, and Skel. She tried to move but felt a rope around her arms and legs. She didn’t understand. Where was April? Just a minute ago, she had been on the roof of a house…and now, she was here? Then she heard shouts.

“We caught her!”

“There she is!”

“Burn her!”

She decided…maybe, she was dreaming. But no it seemed real. Was she alive? She received a violent blow in the head. Yes, she was definitely alive.

“What’s going on?” she asked her friends. Her head was throbbing, she could barely hear what they said. Nonetheless, she managed to make out a very clear “You know what’s going on Risa.”

Suddenly, she felt something cold invade her. It was like ice invading her body. And then, she understood: She did know, Risa knew. She had killed the boy. She hadn’t been watching the scene because she was in it. She had crossed the ice. She had been in the house. Her friends had chased after her because she had run away from them.

“We jumping off the roof of some house. She’d messed up everything inside. The family in there had been asphyxiated to death, even the kids! I don’t get it…”

“Well what are they going do to her?”

“Burn her of course”

“But, maybe why would she kill all those people. There’s gotta be a reason, right?”

Risa realized, she was April. The April that had killed the boy was her. No one else could see that girl apart from Risa, because that’s who she was…not physically, but morally. Although, she couldn’t help but wonder why the April in her murdered…

The next morning Risa was burnt in front of a huge crowd, watching her as she struggled for life. A few months later, records were found of her having killed seven other people, before the incident of the young boy’s death had ever happened. The first time Risa had killed, April appeared. From then on, that was the murderer she saw as opposed to seeing herself. Unable to face the fact that she had taken someone’s life away, her spirit was split in two. But the murders didn’t stop there, and no one could ever find out why they occurred in the first place. The day Risa was burnt, the fire heating the village went out.

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